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Ability Order

Hi guys, my name's Bryan otherwise known in-game as Elite. Akali is one of the very first champions I played when I got into League of Legends. I enjoy playing assassins and her kit stood out to me, so I picked her up and loved her ever since. As of right now, she does not fit in with the current meta, but hopefully with this new season 4 patch she will be fit the meta as she once did. I hereby introduce you guys my take on Akali, Enjoy.

There exists an ancient order originating in the Ionian Isles dedicated to the preservation of balance. Order, chaos, light, darkness -- all things must exist in perfect harmony for such is the way of the universe. This order is known as the Kinkou and it employs a triumvirate of shadow warriors to uphold its causes in the world. Akali is one of these shadow warriors, entrusted with the sacred duty of Pruning the Tree - eliminating those who threaten the equilibrium of Valoran.

A prodigal martial artist, Akali began training with her mother as soon as she could make a fist. Her mother's discipline was relentless and unforgiving, but predicated on the fundamental principle: ''We do that which must be done.'' When the Kinkou inducted her into the order at the age of fourteen, she could slice a dangling chain with a chop of her hand. There was no question - she would succeed her mother as the Fist of Shadow. She has had to do much in this role which others might find morally questionable, but to her it is in service of her mother's inviolable doctrine. She now works with her fellows Shen and Kennen to enforce the balance of Valoran. This hallowed pursuit has unsurprisingly led the triumvirate to the Fields of Justice.

''The Fist of Shadow strikes from the cover of death itself. Do not impede the balance.''

I. Runes

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration

Since Akali had recently had a passive change these marks are actually better for her, you only lose out on 2 magic penetration in return for 8 armor penetration. Remember that Akali is considered a hybrid champion, so these are the best choice.

These are better than flat ability power gyphs, since you are concentrating on scaling into late game these AP/LVL glyphs will help you do more damage at the later stages of the game and help you become a greater threat once you reach level 6/7.

The best quintessences you can get on a ability power based champion. More damage, more money, no problems. ;)

Runes

Sorcery

Phase Rush

Since Akali is played mainly ability power, these are also a solid choice. You can use these if you don't have Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration. It's also a good idea to use these if you are laning against a bad early game champion.

Runes

Sorcery

Phase Rush

Although nerfed, they are situational runes and still do well against overwelming bruisers/fighters top.

Runes

Sorcery

Phase Rush

Good for early game. Use against champions that have terrible early laning phases or if you want to take down your enemy as quickly as possible.

High burst early game champions like LeBlanc/ Brand? It's be wise to get these.

Get these if you're going against AP champions that scale into late game.

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Not recommended, These can be used for late game. combined with other items with magic penetration (ie. Void Staff) to deal significant damage.

Not recommended, but if you prefer roaming a lot early these aren't a bad option.

II. Masteries

Masteries

1/

4/

3/

1/

3/

3/

1/

3/

1/

1/

2/

2/

1/

3/

1/

With 21/9/0 you gain an increase in survivability & an increase in damage. The offense tree is to good to give up for Akali all that extra damage can't be passed up. The defense tree helps you take auto attack harass, and trade.

III. Summoner Spells

Ignite - Ignite is a summoner spell which I prefer, knowing my luck the majority of time my opponent escapes with barely any life left. Well Ignite solves that problem for me, dealing true damage over time it finishes off the opponent for me.

Flash - Used to gain distance between enemies. Flash + Shadow Dance= Godly Range! You can also use Flash to escape any gank or team fight if it isn't favorable to you. Flashing through walls can save your life or can enable you to kill an enemy. Basically best summoner in the game

Exhaust - Can be used to slow the enemy down for that needed area to be able to Shadow Dance onto the champion. Also decreases damage dealt to you and can be used to escape. Get this summoner if they have a lot of AD on their team.

Ghost - Allows you to gain movement speed to chase or escape from an enemy champion effectively. Able to run through those pesky minions that get in your way! Although, Flash is still a better choice.

Teleport - This spell is very useful to protect your turret(s) or even an ally(s) when needed, blinking in by teleporting to a minion or ward in the middle of a team fight can change the tide of a game. Very team oriented summoner

V. Skills

This passive scales as the game get longer. The way this passive works is the more AP or AD items you get (*COUGH* Hextech Gunblade *COUGH*) the more ability power, or spell vamp you receive. With the runes you get it helps you farm better too.

Your farming tool early game. Akali's only ranged skill so use it to your advantage! If you're against someone who you are timid about just use this to farm, the cool-down is short so you'll be able to farm efficiently. Or with this ability you can harass the enemy champion, and if they come to close proc the mark with the auto-attack and fall back. It'll cause them to be weary forcing them back and possibly losing precious gold and experience to level.

One of Akali's most well known moves. Her smoke cloud, use this to your advantage! You can use this to farm, escape, slow, and to even scare off the enemies. When using this, determine if you really need it or not, with the energy cost decide if you can survive without it and burst the enemy down leaving extra energy to use Mark of the Assassin, Crescent Slash, or Shadow Dance and be able to use another combo. This ability gains vision where it is cast so you can use this to juke with Shadow Dance. (ie. Using Twilight Shroud over the wraith camp, then using Shadow Dance

Another farming tool, use this to last hit or hit a massive amount of creeps. Normally the first Crescent Slash doesn't take down the mob of creeps at full HP, so it'll have to be done twice. This can also be used to destroy what's left of the enemies HP! Also, using this skill triggers the Mark of an Assassin so you can harass at a wider distance than just auto-attacking. Don't spam this in team-fights, it will deplete your energy.

This is what makes Akali.. Well Akali. Shadow Dance allows you to chase an enemy and stick to them like glue. With this ultimate you gain 3 stacks, and you also gain a stack for every assist or kill. Use Shadow Dance to juke through walls as well.

VI. Combo Sequence

Insert this wherever in the combo, or don't even use it if you don't need it.

An amazing item for a hybrid like Akali. Branching from Hextech Revolver bought early on, this is basically that but 45 attack damage which goes into your Twin Disciplines and Crescent Slash, 65 ability power providing to your magical damage and Twin Disciplines, 10 life steal & 20 spell vamp synergizing with Twin Disciplines! The main reason why this is bought is for the spell vamp boost, and active passive. With the active, it acts like another mini- Ignite, that with a range of 700 you can place on a target champion and also slow them too, it was basically made for Akali.

This item is incredibly good now. Buying this as your second or third item allows you to be more reckless with Akali and engage first. Very useful and allows you to be less reliant on your allies to play right.

This item if a must have if you are facing an enemy team that is stacking magic resist against you. With the 35% magic penetration it can increase the amount damage you place onto the selected enemy champion. With the recent changes taking priority of getting this item over Rabadon's Deathcap will actually deal more damage. Here's some proof.

Best shoes in the game for Akali, more magic penetration = more damage.

Buy these boots if the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, the tenacity reduces the time you are snared, stunned, etc.

Buy these if you're against a difficult bruiser, AD champion like Talon, or mostly AD based composition.

With the highest ability power stats in the game, this item is wanted by every champion that scales with ability power.

One of the main reasons why this item is chosen is because of the passive along with the 80 ability power, and 5 movement speed. After using an ability your next auto attack will deal physical bonus damage refreshing every two seconds. Scaling with ability power this item gives even more burst to your Mark of the Assassin than you had before. The key is to time your combo right so you get both procs on Lich Bane activated when using Mark of the Assassin.

Get this item if they have one major threat. With the active passive you can burst down the enemy quickly. leaving the enemy team with no real damage. This item is situational, should consider buying if they only have one real threat.

If you are doing really well in the game, and not dying. I highly encourage you to buy this item, with 20 stacks and a Rabadon's Deathcap you'll be taking an enemy champion down before anyone can react.

Get this if you want to snowball early.

Are you the main focus, and the only threat on your team? When enemies see you with this item it discourages the enemy team to target you since you've become a harder target to kill.

Buy this if the enemy team has a big AP composition. Spirit Visage is the highest magic resist item in the game now, and gives Akali health regeneration.

Situational item, start building this if you're against a high burst AP champions like LeBlanc, etc. The passive also helps if the enemy team isn't building that much magic resist.

Buy this item if you're getting kited by champions like Ashe, this also provides you with a decent amount of survivability and gives you a slow when you use a spell like Mark of the Assassin.

This item is really good. I buy this item if my team has enough damage and to tank most of the damage.

Gives extra health to help you survive later in solo or team fights, and also gives you attack damage to boost your damage such as Crescent Slash.

This consumable is whenever you feel like you need a power boost since is increases ability power, and it also reduces cool-downs which is very useful since she is extremely cool-down dependent.
(Tip) Make sure to grab this item whenever the enemy team has a Baron Buff, it helps a lot to counter them.

This is your best friend, if you are not buying one or two of these every time you base, you are playing so wrong. What these do is give you vision of an area for a given amount of time (like Vision Wards but without the ability to see invisible units), placing these around the map will help you and your team-mates pin-point where enemy champions are and creates map control.

Used to gain vision control, typically set around Baron or Dragon.

Caution!

Different teams call for different items, you do not use this build for every game! There are items depending on the team you are up against such as magic resist items, etc.which will greatly attribute to you and your team.

VII. Matchups

Difficulty Scale:

Regarding Vision Wards: If they have one in their inventory, try to bait it out by going agressive and backing off so they might panic and use it, or just don't use your Twilight Shroud at all so they worry about trying to use it when they think you are going to Twilight Shroud, making them perform less optimal. Mind games folks.

Pretty difficult lane matchup, his sustain is really annoying. Try to harass him when his Dark Flight is on cool-down so he can't retaliate when you back off. Always back off when his ultimate is active and try to always have Ignite when you plan on dueling to mitigate his healing.

Not a very hard matchup, you may find it hard to last hit, but that's with any ranged champion. Just dodge her skillshots, Twilight Shroud her Fox-Fire and Spirit Rush, and go in on her when her abilities are on cool-downs. An easy way to dodge her Charm is just to stay behind minions or be constantly moving.

Laning phase, you should dodge her Flash Frost at all times. Once you do that try going aggressive on her. Asking for jungle help would be helpful here because once she gets 6 her pushing power. I'd recommend trying to get six before her and killing her before you lose your chance. You could also roam to snowball of other champions if Anivia is playing really passive, she's slow as fuu.

I hate Annie, her auto attack is the most annoying thing in the world, she can zone you with her Disintegrate and forces you to play passive when her stun is up. I'd just concentrate on farming, and go in only when you see the right chance. I don't recommend trying to kill her when she has her tibbers unless you know for sure it'll be a kill.

Try to dodge his skill shots, any good Brand will know to save his stun for you when you get 6, try to bait out his abilities then jump on him because he's pretty squishy. Try not to fight near any minons/allies so you don't get the bounce from his Pyroclasm.

His sustain is decent, just dodge his skill-shots and always have a Mark of the Assassin on him so he'll be weary when he tries to farm. I'd try to level six before him, and kill him before he gets stacks on his Feast. Health is a big counter to Akali.

Don't let him touch you please. Play extremely safe, and farm with Mark of the Assassin. Only window you have to harass him is when his Decimate is on cool-down. Twilight Shroud when he has ult, and don't let his passive stack on you. When those are on cool-down go ham on him.

Dodge her Crescent Strike and fight right after her passive is used. If she misses her Crescent Strike go in on her, if she uses her Pale Cascade go in on her after it's down. Make sure not to die to her or else the lane can swing in her favor. This is a skill matchup.

Duel her whenever you can, always have Mark of the Assassin on her and proc it when she tries to farm. You will always out-trade her if played properly, and buy a Vision Ward in case she roams.

Try not to get hit by his silence, after you dodge that you can pretty much harass him hard-core after, because if he all-ins you just Ignite, Mark of the Assassin combo, and auto him down. Be weary of his six, and Twilight Shroud immediately when he does use it.

his Parrrley harass is really annoying. Keep your Mark of the Assassin on him and harass him when he comes to last hit. Don't duel him early on because he'll just win. After 6 you can kill him though.

Silence is your worse enemy. Just play safe and farm with Mark of the Assassin, harassing doesn't help much because he'll just heal it up with his passive. If he's trying to silience you shroud and wait until he uses it on a minion, then punish him for it. Like Darius's ultimate, shroud when Garen uses Demacian Justice.

Most annoying champion to lane against, he'll just push to your tower all day, and harass you from there. His turrets hurt so try to fight away from them, and definately don't fight if you see a Vision Ward in his inventory because if you do his turrets will just destory you even in Twilight Shroud. He's pretty squishy so bursting him down is your only option of killing him.

Pretty difficult matchup, harass her early game and don't let her jump on you, if she does that Twilight Shroud immediately so she does not harass you any further, hopefully wasting her Equilibrium Strike as well. Try to outfarm her, push lane and roam.

Try to waste his Counter Strike and punish him when he doesn't have it. Twilight Shroud whenever he does Q+E combo you and use your Q+E combo on him back. Don't let him hit you every 3rd stack on his ult and burst him when you get your stacks on your ultimate. When Jax uses his ultimate, it'd be wise to back off.

Farm against him, try to keep your mark on him whever possible, and shroud when he hammers you, then punish him when he does and retaliate by bursting him down. Should have him alittle above half before going all in.

Don't underestimate the damage she can output, but she is very mana dependent. Her harass is pretty annoying. Make sure to avoid her Inner Flame+ Mantra combo, her Mantra has a pretty decent cool-down so jumping on her after she uses it is optimal.

He's a really easy matchup because all you have to do is dodge his Lay Waste, and apply constant presssure with your Mark of the Assassin. Once you level six you can try jumping on him to kill him. In team fights try to stay out his Defile, and use Twilight Shroud anytime he uses Reqium to mitigate some damage.

Harrass really hard early game, he's mana dependent so he'll lose out in trades each time he tries to silence you. Just make sure to consume the mark. You will most likely win against him in a duel because your Shadow Dance has basically no cool-down compared to his Rift Walk. Once he starts roaming, push up the lane and roam as well (unless it's too late then just take the tower).

Really hard laning phase because she'll just try to deny you with her Reckoning+ Righteous Fury combo, make sure to Twilight Shroud whenever she lands her Reckoning on you. Play passive until you get stacks on your Shadow Dance to engage on her. I try to bait out her ultimate by pretending to all in her, then backing off.

Laning phase is going to be a nightmare, don't let him mark you with his Mark of the Storm anytime he has it up. Play really passive until six, you'll probably be farming under tower and you might have to blow Twilight Shroud so you don't get harassed even while farming. Whenever his Tundering Shuriken and Lightning Rush is on cool-down try to go in on him because when you jump on him with after you apply Mark of the Assassin if he still has his Lightning Rush he will just use it to get away. and retaliate by harassing you down.

I hate her. LeBlanc will harass you hardcore laning phase, so rush MR against her. Just try to outfarm her because she can't clear as fast as you unlesss she uses one of her skills, which has a longer cool-down than yours. Wait until she uses her combo to go in on her and Twilight Shroud to avoid her Ethereal Chains.

Try to avoid her Ice Shard at all times, If she's going aggressive on you, you're probably going to get ganked, wait until her Ring of Frost is on cool-down to initiate on her. Harass her down before fully engaging on her because she can disengage with her Glacial Path and Frozen Tomb.

Her long ranged skills are annoying to deal with, make sure to dodge her Light Binding before doing anything. Always be constantly moving so she cannot predict your movement. After her Light Binding is on cool-down you can go all in. Be weary of her full combo burst. Try using Twilight Shroud to juke out her spells.

Constantly have your Mark of the Assassin on him and try to keep his passive Granite Shield. He is pretty mana dependent so bait out his skills by zoning him and forcing him to use it to farm. Depending on how low or how much mana he has will determine if you can go all-in on him.

Try to harass him down early because he will become a pain later in the game. Make sure to dodge his Undertow at all times and punish him when it's on cool-down. Never fight him full out, stick to harassing.

Dodge her Command: Attack whenever possible and harass her when her ball is far from her because the travel time for when the ball returns to her is longer. Use Twilight Shroud to help with farming and try to take minimal damage until six, then go all in on her if you are high enough and right after Orianna's Command: Dissonance is on cool-down.

She has like the weakest laning phase ever, always harrass with Mark of the Assassin everytime she goes to last hit. Never stay near the walls though because she will use her Heroic Charge to stun you and harass you like that. Should be an easy lane.

Annoying lane, stay away from the bushes because he'll just leap on you. Don't fight him when his ferocity is full so he can't use his Savagery spam on you. Be weary of his ultimate. Use Twilight Shroud whenever he stuns you with his full fury Bola Strike.

Don't take unnecessary damage from his Flamespitter, engage on him when he is overheated because he cannot use any abilities when he is in that state. When you are six you can probably engage on him, just avoid his The Equalizer when he does use it by using Shadow Dance on a minion, or just back off.

Has a pretty weak laning phase so harass him as much as possible, once he starts itemizing you will be in trouble because his build basically counters you. Try out-leveling him and engage at level six, but don't be reckless because his damage is pretty good as well.

Use Twilight Shroud whenever he uses his Cryptic Gaze and keep your proc on him if you can. If his Death's Caress is active try to break the shield before it sets off. Try to bait out his abilities before engaging him, because those two skills is normally all he has.

Try to keep your Mark of the Assassin on him at all times, don't let him attack you after he uses his Torment and dodge his Nevermore at all costs. Use Twilight Shroud if you're forced too. Play smart, but keep a healthy experience lead over him and engage when you reach six.

Farm safely, and don't get hit by his Rake. Make sure to back off when his Noxian Diplomacy is activated because he's probably going to try to engage on you. After his Rake is on cool-down make sure to harass him. Don't fight him when you are on the low on health. His silence is really annoying so never get too close, and if it's unavoidable just use your Twilight Shroud afterwards.

This little **** is OP as **** now, just play safe until you're level six. Keep track of his Noxious Traps, and fuly engage on him when you level six. Never take too much damage from him because he will win the duel if you're low on HP and has his Blinding Dart on him, so try to bait it out before fighting. If you do get an early lead this lane will be easy for you.

Dodge his Wild Cards and back off when he is using his Pick A Card then punish when he uses it on minions. Engage on him at level six because he is really squishy. His ultimate Destiny can see you even through your stealth so be cautious of that. When he starts roaming follow him right when he leavs, or warn your team-mates and shove your lane as hard as possible.

Annoying as ****, farm as much as possible and try to avoid all his zombie harass on you. Wait until level six and when some of his skills are on cool-down before engaging on him. Keep a relatively high health and you'll be fine. Be careful about his ultimate Omen of Death and disengage when you kill him, so you don't die to his revive.

Pretty difficult lane if you can't dodge his Bouncing Bomb, his zoning potential is annoying and he'll just force you to farm under tower while harassing you from there. His sieging power is amazing, so asking for jungle help is optimal. Once you level six, you can try bursting him down when his Satchel Charge/ Hexplosive Minefield is on cool-down because he's pretty squishy. If you are ahead this the lane pressure will be relieved significantly.

He will constantly use his Time Bombs on you, stay safe and farm until level six, wait until he uses his Time Bombs on minions before engaging, force him to use his ultimate and kill him or back off and rpeat the process. Never stay near minions because he will just use his Time Bombs on them to deal true damage to you.

Her harrass in lane is pretty annoying, make sure just to dodge her skill shots, and farm passively. Once you're level six you will be winning your lane. Make sure to bait out her Grasping Roots before engaging because she will combo off of that and destroy you. Don't step on her seeds because they reveal you in stealth.

The differences in good Akali's and the ok ones, is all in the minor details. Normally Akali's will just randomly place their Twilight Shroud in a random area, not really thinking about placement. With the right placement it will be even more difficult for enemies to catch you and find you. The key point is using the ridges and curbs to separate the Twilight Shroud forcing the enemy to choose one of the many paths you could escape to.

Here are some key places they can be used at.

When using this method there are numerous of ways you can go, but the catch is your enemy has to decide which way you went. With the wall in the way their decision is very limited, so what I usually do is wait in Twilight Shroud and watch the enemy choose their path where they believe I had attempted to escape to and simply run the opposite way.

Twilight Shroud also grants you vision of where it is cast from, use this mechanic to your advantage by shrouding a camp and using Shadow Dance on it.

The map is symmetrical so just do the same locations on either side of the arena.

When using Twilight Shroud make sure to walk on the edges of the bubble, if the champions decide to blindly use their abilities on you, they usually aim for the middle.

When looking at the amount of energy you have, determine whether it is needed to use Twilight Shroud at all.

Twilight Shroud has an innate slow, so using that effectively can slow down opponents enough to catch up to them, or even slow them down to help your team-mates and yourself get at a safe distance from the enemy.

IX. Zoning

Zoning is a very important part of controlling your lane, using your champion, abilities, brush can cause the enemy champion to play passively, where you come in and continue to deny said champion of experience and gold.

Here's a picture of the areas that are safe, and are not.

There are many ways to zone, with the use of Twilight Shroud here are some ways you can zone the enemy champion.

In this image I used Twilight Shroud and placed it behind Nasus, this will cause the enemy to panic and either move forward, or try to escape around the shroud. You can use that time to harass him, and teach him not to over-extend. Also, place a Twilight Shroud right on top of my minions, when the champion sees me go in the bubble, they will most likely proceed to back off being denied of a few creeps, and if they don't punish them by attacking.

When the champion pushes to the turret use your Twilight Shroud placed in front of the turret, making the enemy back off in fear of getting attacked by Akali. This can be also used when they dive you, when they attack use Twilight Shroud and wait while they get hit by turret aggro, then as they back away proceed to use the combo sequence on them to finish them off.

This is one of the most important uses of zoning. When a creep wave comes extremely close to your turret but don't get caught by the agro, you are in the perfect position for lane dominance. This is known as "freezing the lane", when this happens you are to be strictly last hitting the minions at the very last second, this will cause the enemy to not be able to farm due to the fact your minions are near the tower, yourself, and in fear of getting ganked. Doing this will allow you to out-level the enemy in levels and be ahead in creeps.

XI. Warding

Don't ever hesitate to buy Stealth Wards or Vision Wards as they can save your life or even take one. It also benefits your team by giving them map awareness, and who doesn't love that?

During laning phase, make sure to ward the major paths so you aren't susceptible to ganks.

Ward the spaces in between the towers where the jungle paths open when you take it down to have a visual on the enemies.

The jungler should usually ward their buffs if the enemy team has a champion that can clear fast Shyvana, Nunu & Willump, etc. While counter-junglers should be warding the enemies buffs so they can steal, or contest them.

XI. Jungle

I know, I know. Akali isn't as viable in the jungle as other champs. That is true, BUT it is important to your team and yourself to keep track of the times of each neutral camp.

Initial Spawn: (15:00) Respawn Time: (7:00)

Baron is the most important buff in the game, although he takes awhile to kill, it is entirely worth it to take down, providing the extra gold (global 300g), experience, and stats. Your team will have a major advantage against the other team, solely with this buff. So keeping track on this is a major priority by timing the death of Baron all the way to its re-spawn, so the enemy team doesn't get it at all, or get it again.

Initial Spawn: (2:30) Respawn Time: (6:00)

Dragon/Drake is the next important thing you should keep track of, giving an amount of global 190 gold, and experience to those who are near it can determine who wins games. You may think that 190 gold is not much, but in competitive matches any gold you have over your enemy is worth it. You often see team fights at Dragon/Drake solely for that purpose.

Initial Spawn: (1:55) Respawn Time: (5:00)

Red Buff is important for your jungler, it enable him to gank more efficiently in early levels due to the slow, deals true damage and creates a type of mini-ignite towards the selected opponent. After that it usually goes to an AD range carry such as Caitlyn, Vayne, Corki, etc. This helps tremendously in game-play overall, with a slow from just auto-attacking, a mini-ignite, and true damage, your team will be at a slight advantage if you control both red buffs.

Initial Spawn: (1:55) Respawn Time: (5:00)

Blue buff is another buff for a caster and sustaining jungle. Blue buff reduces your cooldown timer, and increases mana regeneration. Usually given to a caster after the jungler can sustain in the jungle with ease, with this buff on the caster, it becomes much more of a hassle in lane and overall. Spamming abilities with ease, placing this on your own caster, and denying it from your enemies can win games.

Basic neutral camps, mid-laner usually takes the wraith camp whenever possible on either side depriving both side, bot/top lane should be taking Wight or Golems depending which side you're on. Cripples the jungle on either side.